please you must not madden with a monotonous delivery.

Adaptation of the voice to the room. Every room has a key of its own; that is, has power of augmenting some sounds and confusing others, dependent upon the size of the room and its acoustic properties generally. The experienced speaker learns to detect and to adopt his key to the particular auditorium in which he speaks. He has plenty of time to do this too, for his speech is generally an hour long and the first five minutes may be taken to get his correct bearings. For the declaimer who has only five or ten minutes, the problem is altogether different. If possible, he should rehearse his selection, at least once, in the room in which it is to be given. When this cannot be done, he will have to gauge his key and volume by his experience in other rooms and then listen and look for the effect. If you see people in the back of the room turning one ear to you and wrinkling their faces, speak louder; if you hear your words strike glancing blows on the walls of the room, speak more slowly and with less volume; if you hear your voice growing thinner as it goes out over the audience, and notice some people raise their eyebrows, use a lower tone. Especially avoid, when speaking to a large crowd, the high constrained pitch. This soon becomes painful to the hearers and the speaker. Be sure to start on your natural key; even a lower key is not objectionable. It is much easier to go up than to come down. Besides, it takes five or ten minutes to discover

that you are speaking too high and by that time your declamation will have been finished.

EMPHASIS

Emphasis is closely interwoven with the other essentials of public speaking. It is the art of giving to each word its due importance, and consists of any means that the speaker may employ whereby particular attention is called to words of special significance. This may be done by speaking the words louder or softer, higher or lower, pausing before or after, or both, lengthening the sound, increasing or decreasing the movement, changing the quality of the voice, in short any variation of any kind that will attract attention. The fundamental, the basic idea underlying all emphasis is variation. It must be different from the ordinary, the common run. A white woman walking up the strect with a white man causes only a casual glance from the passers-by. But a white woman walking up the street with a black man attracts attention. It is exceptional. It is variation. It is to the work-a-day world just what emphasis is to the common delivery of a declamation.

Basis of good emphasis. Like all other elements of expression, this matter of emphasis is the double work of mind and voice. You cannot emphasize a word unless the mind first perceives its importance for the purpose of the thought-expression. The primary requisite, then, is a vivid, vigor

ous mental concept; the rest is to have the voice give expression to that concept.

Stress. The most common method of emphasizing a word is by a relatively strong accent or stress. The Century dictionary defines "emphasis❞ as "a special stress of the voice given to the utterance of a word." If this were all there is to emphasis, the person who thunders out all-important words would be a good speaker. Emphasis is more than mere accent. It is uncovering the idea most effectively. If by stress you accomplish this, then you emphasize well. But stress and stress alone will not suffice.

"That voice all modes of passion can express

Which marks the proper word with proper stress; But none emphatic can that speaker call

Who lays an equal emphasis on all."

Very often the most effective way to emphasize is to speak an important idea in a greatly reduced tone, particularly after you have been emphasizing by the stress. The contrast will get results. Variation, the bed-rock principle of emphasis, will have been introduced.

Pitch. Pitch is the relative position of a vocal tone. It is here used as synonymous with inflection. The general rule is, that when the thought is incomplete at a given pause, the voice should. rise; and when the thought is complete, the voice should fall in pitch. But aside from this general rule, the inflections of the voice, in natural and effective speaking, are infinite. It is natural in conversation and in public speaking to change the

pitch of successive syllables, words, or word groups. Listen to the voice of a child as it talks. The tones run up and down the range of the voice in perfect harmony with the change of thought. Then listen to the same child reading its lesson. What do you hear? The dull, lifeless, monotonous repetition of the artificial sounds that he acquired from the one who first taught him to read. The change of pitch which becomes a stumbling block for the child reader is the same offender in giving declamations. When you converse in the family circle, you speak pleasantly; when you converse in an auditorium you speak wretchedly.

Pause. One of the most forceful and effective methods of bringing out the idea is by the use of the pause. In conversation one naturally makes a pause before saying something important, and then waits for it to "to soak in.” The same principle must be carried into your declamation work. Without practice the declaimer is prone to forget all about the natural way a person might emphasize the ideas of the selection. Notice how effectively the pause is used in the following

sentences:

(a) A thing of beauty-is a joy forever. (b) Man-dies; the nation-lives.

(c) The one rule for attaining perfection in any art is practice.

(d) In this-God's world-dost thou think there is no justice?

(e) To speak distinctly—is to speak well.

(f) The days of pompous eloquence-are gone by.

Time. To take approximately the same time in speaking each word, whether important or unimportant, is to show an utter lack of discrimination. More time should be taken to utter the words that carry the principal idea; expand-dwell upon— the important words. Read Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech and note how the element of time enters into the proper development of the ideas.

Movement. The rate of speed with which a series of words or sentences is uttered is movement; while time is the relative prolongation of a single word. The rate of movement of a selection depends upon the sentiment to be expressed. If lively, excited, joyous, or impulsive, it should be rapid; if sad, solemn, important or ponderous, it should be slow; if natural poise or state of mind be undisturbed, a moderate rate of movement will be appropriate. The larger the auditorium the slower the movement, of course. The numerous handicaps that one finds in a large room must be taken into account.

Quality of the voice. The character or quality of the tones, the purity or impurity of the voice, cannot be overestimated. "A good voice has a charm in speech as in song; oftentimes of itself enchains attention." A clear, resonant, musical voice is surely an enviable possession. If you have not such a voice, it behooves you to take steps toward making it such. Will to have a stronger, more